Daniel O. Conkle

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Education

B.A., Ohio State University, 1976
J.D., Ohio State University, 1979

Research Interests

Religious liberty

Religion and law

Role of religion in American politics and public life

Background

A member of the IU faculty since 1983, I teach Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, and Law and Religion. My research addresses constitutional law and theory, religious liberty, and the role of religion in American law, politics, and public life.

I have devoted considerable attention to legal and theoretical questions surrounding the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment, as well as related questions of law and public policy. My most recent book, Religion, Law, and the Constitution (2016), provides an analytical and normative framework for understanding and evaluating the Supreme Court’s sometimes controversial decision making in this area.

Awards

Two-time recipient of law school’s Leon H. Wallace Teaching Award

Two-time recipient of Gavel Award for outstanding contributions to graduating law school class

Six-time recipient of law school faculty fellowships for outstanding scholarship

“The Path of American Religious Liberty: From the Original Theology to Formal Neutrality and an Uncertain Future,” 75 Indiana Law Journal 1-36 (2000)

“Secular Fundamentalism, Religious Fundamentalism, and the Search for Truth in Contemporary America,” 12 Journal of Law and Religion 337-70 (1995-96), republished in Law and Religion: A Critical Anthology, at 317-44 (Stephen M. Feldman, ed.; New York University Press, 2000)

"Toward a General Theory of the Establishment Clause,” 82 Northwestern University Law Review 1113-94 (1988), republished in part in The First Amendment: The Establishment of Religion Clause, at 76-82 (Alan Brownstein, ed.; Prometheus Books, 2008)